A specialist in marine risk believes there was a window of up to 20 minutes for navigators to steer the container ship Rena off its collision course.
John Riding's firm Marico Marine NZ Ltd has decoded transmissions sent by the ship before it struck the Astrolabe Reef off the Bay of Plenty coast at about 2.20am on 5 October.
Mr Riding says the vessel took a managed, deliberate turn without on-board navigational charts having been checked.
From there, he says, the ship would have travelled in a straight line for up to 20 minutes and it is a mystery why evasive action wasn't taken.
Mr Riding says the Rena's navigators only used radar recognition of land, and possibly the port entrance beacon, to find their way. He says it is almost as if they thought the reef wasn't there.
Australian MP queries ship checks
An Australian politician is asking questions about what checks were carried out when the cargo ship passed through the Port of Melbourne.
Victorian Greens MP Sue Pennicuik says the Rena was previously detained for a day in Fremantle with up to 17 defects and was allowed to sail again even though they were not all rectified.
She wants to know whether the vessel was inspected for deficiencies while it was in port in Melbourne on 19 and 20 September.
